It's okay if you need to find a restaurant in a place where you thought there might not be any, but in the last couple decades, we've come to expect better restaurants. This was like the "best restaurant in town" in Madison in the early 1980s.

Obviously this shirt (and others, much worse, that I've seen frequently of late) pulls at a thread of something larger that I've been thinking about...

That is -- do we as a society hate children? I mean really despise them, unwilling to see them as an independent living organism, only tolerating them as a toy or pet, or as a means to give us those certain feelings that we require they provide?

Seriously. How has the life of a child changed over, say, the last 30 years?

They cannot play out of eyesight of their parents/teachers, for fear that they are captured and kept in an underground dungeon. They are essentially abandoned amidst us, to create a Lord of the Flies society just out of earshot. They are sexualized/scandalized and subjected to a never-ending assault of sensuality/profanity in our media. They are warehoused in day care camps and ignored by hard-charging Dad and hot MILF mom. They are told that self-esteem is everything while skills/knowledge are ignored. They are drafted as PR shills for the family, with silicone, steroids, and learning disabilities promoted as virtue if the end result is "success." They are crafted in test tubes from a list of desired qualities, or slaughtered in the womb if unwanted or inconvenient.

It is clear that our modern ethos is that the family is not for the child, but the child is for the family.

So yes, I guess I'm saying this type of shirt is the leading edge of a crudeness that runs counter to treating someone with dignity. And that crudeness leads to a society that uses children, while simultaneously buying bike helmets and organic food to assure ourselves that we're protective and nurturing.

Good points. And a good reminder that the fear should not be debilitating, but should serve only to make us angry, which can then lead to action.

Nothing like rolling up the sleeves and becoming warriors for virtue and goodness. Maybe that's the answer...rising above the lowest common denominator of tolerance and hitting the high bar of respect and love. Countering every foul blast of degradation with a blazing affection that mystifies the bestial instinct.

Maybe it's seeing the kid in the "Poop" sweatshirt and addressing him with the respect and interest that makes him grow taller in your presence.

But I also think it's punching lies right in the nose, hoping to make the eyes water.

And when that "good" parent -- the "church-going" one, who "means well" -- approaches with the idea of the co-ed sleepover for the middle school kids...it's looking them right in the eye, slowly shaking your head and simply saying, "No. (Long Pause.) No."

OK, the mannequins are weird and upsetting. That said, the thread reminds me of children as the new fashion accessories. Paris had that little dog and the outfits. Some parents I see are the same with with their children.

It is not a left or right thing. But some of the shirts for children on the website mentioned were awful. "Pimp" on a child's shirt. Sheesh.

I think it is us, the boomers, and the next gen that see the kids as fashion acoutrements. It strikes me as sad and morally bankrupt.